THE CHRISTMAS TREE AND THE CARPET

Carpets Cleaned with Excellence

Love the smell and presence of a real Christmas tree, but tired of spending the festive season vacuuming up fallen needles underneath it or transporting them around the rest of the house on your socks? We can help! Protect your carpet from unnecessary mess with our top tips.

How to keep your tree from losing its needles

1. Preparation: When shopping for a Christmas tree choose a Douglas fir, Blue Spruce or Nordmann fir tree. These trees tend to be more expensive than the Norway spruce, so if your budget can’t stretch that far, just try and purchase the freshest looking tree that you can. Avoid any trees with signs of dehydration - a good way to test this is to run your hands along the branches to see if the needles fall. Another way to check if it is freshly harvested is if the stump is pale. The darker it is, the longer it has been cut.

2. At home: Put the tree outside in water at the earliest opportunity and remove the netting. Allow the branches to settle and before taking it inside give the tree a little shake to dislodge loose needles. Sawing a couple of centimetres off the end of the stump or scoring the bark at the base, will allow the tree to drink more water - ensuring that it stays green and healthy longer. If you are nervous about doing this yourself, you can always ask the retailer to do this. Once you have sawn off the end of the stump, don’t leave it long before putting it in water.

3. Location: Avoid positioning your tree near a source of heat – fire, radiator, south-facing window – as this will cause it to dehydrate. Place the tree in its holder (stand or bucket) somewhere cool and on a small festive tablecloth – this will help to collect any fallen needles (making them easier to pick up and carry away at the end of the festive period), gives it a boundary (hopefully to avoid it getting knocked) and is also a perfect area for presents.

4. Feed it: Regular watering is paramount if you want your tree to retain its needles. Make sure that there is always a reservoir of water in the tree’s container and keep topping it up daily! If you want to give your tree something extra, don’t choose plant fertiliser – this is only for roots - instead mix a couple of spoons of sugar into the water.

5. Decoration: Another way that you can prevent the tree getting overheated/dehydrated is to choose LED fairy lights, as these don’t get as hot as the traditional bulbs (and they use less electricity). Avoid putting heavy baubles on thinner branches. In short, try not to put unnecessary stress on the tree.